Hazardous (A TVD Elijah Mikaelson Story)

Chapter 33

Victoria POV:

I arrived at the abandoned witch house a few moments after leaving Niklaus' mansion, the hybrid I had sent was certainly dead which meant I had to come here myself. Plus this is where Stefan was hiding and I wanted to talk to him. Bargaining for Elijah wouldn't work with this Stefan, but if I could put myself on his side I may be able to prevent Elijah from an eternal swim in the ocean. "Stefan." I spoke quietly as I arrived on the porch, I knew he could hear me and I didn't want to risk entering the house and being magically attacked by dead witches. "I know you're here and I came to talk to you."

"Damon told you?" Stefan appeared in the entry way of the witch house, but he didn't come outside no doubt knowing I wouldn't come in. He was always clever, even more so when he was on one of these ripper binges. "What do you you want?"

I took a small step forward until I was right at the threshold of the house, my hands placed on either side of the doorway. "I've known Niklaus for centuries and if you'll listen to me, I can help you." This was probably the worst thing I could possibly do, Stefan was the enemy in this situation, not Niklaus. Keep your friends close but your enemies closer, I suppose. "I know how to get to Niklaus, I've done it many times over the years."

"I don't need your help." Stefan remarked cockily, of course he would need my help. Killing hybrids wouldn't work on Stefan's behalf, he had to play it harder. "I don't want it either, you're not willing to do what it takes. Could you really help me put those coffins into the ocean?"

I shook my head. "No, but his family isn't Niklaus' only weakness."

"And you have a plan?"

"The doppelgänger, Elena." I announced, putting my foot over the threshold of the witch house, mentally preparing for a migraine or for my ring to stop working but neither of those things happened. The witches remained silent at my presence and I stepped the rest of the way into the house. "Niklaus needs her for his hybrids, who better to kill? Niklaus can always make more hybrids, but he can't conjure up a whole new doppelgänger. Elena doesn't have any children so future doppelgängers will never come, threaten her and Niklaus will do whatever you want."

One corner of Stefan's mouth twitched and he took his hand out of his pocket to point at me. "You, self proclaimed protector of Elena Gilbert, would allow her to be put in danger?"

"She tried to kill me." I shrugged my shoulders. "She needs a lesson in what happens when she crosses me, and you need a way to get to Niklaus and force him to remove his hybrids. I'll help you with whatever you want, all you need to do is promise me that if he doesn't fold, Elijah's coffin is last to go."

Stefan chuckled under his breath. "I don't need your help, Victoria."

"Yes you do." I insisted, pride was always a burden when I wanted something. Men wouldn't give anything to me because they felt if they conceded then their pride would be wounded. "I'm over nine hundred years old, I've fought and defeated Original Vampires, but it's not just my strength you need. You need my knowledge. I know Niklaus and I know how he works, his pride won't allow him to follow your demands, you need to give him a real threat. Threaten Elena, if she's dead then he can't make anymore hybrids and he'll be forced to send them away so you don't kill them."

"That's your plan then, kill Elena?"

"That's the only plan, Stefan, unless you've found Niklaus' secret weakness. Killing hybrids didn't work, taking the coffins isn't working, so kill Elena. He spent a thousand years trying to break that curse in order to have the ability to make more hybrids, Elena is the thing fueling the fire. Take her away and the fire will die out."

-

I glared at every human who passed by me as I walked purposefully through the throng of people, my eyes set on Damon Salvatore who stood across the room with Niklaus and Carol Lockwood. Of course my plan wasn't to approach them or speak to them, I needed to find someone who could tell me where Elena was and would fess up the information. I needed to find Alaric, compellable human Alaric. He took vervain, but I could always bleed him out if he didn't tell me where she was.